The main reason why people obtain patents (other than being inspired by Shark Tank) is to stop someone else from making the same product, and if someone else makes the same product to be able to recover damages. Patent laws require that the damages awarded in patent infringement actions must be “adequate to compensate for [...]

By Gene Pierson| 2015-01-22T17:34:53+00:00 January 22nd, 2015|Blog, Patent Basics|Comments Off on A Texas Patent Attorney’s Overview of Patent Damages

IN RE THE NEWBRIDGE CUTLERY COMPANY A new look at geographically descriptive marks. In this case, Irish Company Newbridge was trying to trademark the name “NEWBRIDGE HOME”, where products were designed out of Newbridge, Ireland. Brief History Regarding Geographically descriptive trademarks: The Lanham Act instructed the PTO to refuse to register a trademark if “when [...]

In this case, the Plaintiffs EMD Millipore Corporation appeals the district courts grant of Summary judgment that the Defendant, AllPure technologies does not infringe the asserted claims of US Patent Number 6,032,543. The ‘543 patent claims are directed towards a device for introducing or withdrawing a sample from a container holding a fluid without contaminating [...]

IN RE: TAYLOR MADE GOLF CO. [OPINION] This case discusses claim construction, as well as Examiner’s should take into consideration the background knowledge that would have been possessed by a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention. This case is based on an appeal from the USPTO’s Patent Trial [...]

As reported by patentlyo.com (http://patentlyo.com/patent/2014/09/patents-issued-fiscal.html) the number of patent granted year over year continues to grow. During the 2014 fiscal year, over 300,000 utility patents were granted, there are over 1,000,000 patent applications on file, and over 25,000 appeals.

By Gene Pierson| 2014-09-30T16:43:26+00:00 September 30th, 2014|Blog|Comments Off on Number of Patents granted per year increasing!

Another fun case dealing with Alice Corp. and 35 USC 101 This is case that deals with 35 USC 101, where the judge relied on Alice Corp to invalidate all of the plaintiff’s claims. The inventions at issue in this case are directed towards automatically synchronizing lip movements of cartoon characters. See US patent Numbers [...]

No Business Method Patents, means no Business Method Patents. Open-Text-SA-v-Alfresco-Software-Ltd In a recent case, regarding Austin’s own Open Text, Judge Donato invalidated claims within a patent assigned to Open Text. The patent suit in question resulted from companies that create management software, wherein the claims were directed towards creating groups of users based upon the [...]

Pierson Intellectual Property is proud to announce that we are growing! We are in the process of setting up a second office at the following address in Houston: Brookhollow Central III, 2950 Loop Freeway West, Suite 5000, Houston, Texas 77092 With the following phone number: (832)-269-5217

By Gene Pierson| 2014-09-24T17:03:35+00:00 September 24th, 2014|Blog|Comments Off on New location opening in Houston

Aereo Inc. (“Aereo”) is a company that sells a service that allows its subscribers to watch television programs over the internet. Aereo’s system includes thousands of small antennas and other equipment housed in a warehouse that allows a user to select a show that is currently airing. Utilizing Aereo, subscribers could select an out of [...]

By Gene Pierson| 2014-07-06T14:55:47+00:00 July 6th, 2014|Blog|Comments Off on AMERICAN BROADCASTING COS., INC., v. AEREO, INC

Companies can use patent families to reduce costs associated with obtaining patents, increase the number of patents obtained and increase the claimed scope of patent protection. A patent family is a set of patents that utilize the same disclosure of a patent and have the same priority date. Patent attorney’s file most original patent applications [...]

By Gene Pierson| 2014-07-05T20:17:13+00:00 July 5th, 2014|Blog|Comments Off on HOW TO UTILIZE PATENT FAMILIES TO REDUCE PATENT COSTS